November 2025 E-Magazine
- Jane Shellenberger
- Nov 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 6
Keep the Leaves
It’s been a beautiful fall and there are plenty of leaves everywhere for the garden beds. I find there’s nothing better for building soil in veggie and perennial beds, and well as around roses and shrubs, than adding compost and leaves in the fall. Shredding the leaves, especially any thicker, leathery cottonwood leaves, helps them break down faster without matting. It’s easiest to do this with a leaf blower on the vacuum setting or, for more fun and exercise, by jumping up and down on bags of dry leaves. Kids love this chore.
I’m including one of my favorite pieces by Penn Parmenter in this issue, Gardening with Men. I suggested the topic after I’d visited and seen her mountain vegetable gardens at 8100+ ft on a steep grade between Westcliffe and Canon City, where the growing season is short, the wind howls, there are more rocks than topsoil, where leaves are not abundantly available for soil building, and hungry deer are plentiful. If you think gardening on the plains of Colorado is challenging, consider all that. She and her family were even growing big plots of sweet corn up there for God’s sake!
My young friend Tim is back in town and coming to prune my fruit trees this week. When I mentioned to him that wasps had basically destroyed much of my apple crop this year, he asked if I was familiar with Korean natural farming methods which have had great success with this problem. Well, no, I’m not, but I look forward to hearing more and will pass on the info.
Keith Funk covers tree wrap for winter protection, bringing tropical plants indoors, and planting spring flowering bulbs among other things. I’ve also included a short piece Kelly Grummons wrote for us on cactus and succulent care indoors with an eye toward flowering.
It often feels surreal to be focusing on plants when, among other appalling things, people, mostly Latinos, are being snatched out of cars and off the streets by masked ICE and Border Control agents, and sent to detention centers without due process. I can only imagine the impact this is having on the green industry. I know that whenever I stray from the topic of gardening to focus on current events – and that has been rarely in the past 30 years – I inevitably get mail from readers, some appreciative, some dismissive, some hostile and threatening, some understandably weary. And yet, as someone with a public voice, albeit a small one, I feel a need to speak up. This is especially true when it comes to the environment – our public lands, the effects and regulation of harmful chemicals widely used by gardeners, conserving water, etc. But the additional current assault on our rights and freedoms, disguised as the same old war on drugs, calls for speaking out given any opportunity.
There’s a lot of research now showing that cooperation, not competition, is the norm in nature if you look closely enough. Plants still have a lot to teach us about the benefits of diversity and how to get along with each other.
- Jane Shellenberger
Wild men building a new greenhouse. Photo: Penn Parmenter
Gardening with Men
Jump start your growing season
By Penn Parmenter | June 2016
“All men all the time.” That’s what I say to people when trying to explain how I live. Then I say, “In a tiny house – all men – all the time.”
I like men. I’ve always gotten along famously with them. Perhaps that’s why I ran off to the woods with my mountain man husband and made three giant boys. Now that I’ve been gardening with men in the wilderness for 25 years I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I try to learn their ways and then utilize that to my benefit.
I’ve heard tales about the difficulties some people have working together with their loved ones in the garden - the competition, even stories of drawing a line through the yard and each gardening on half. But for us, it started as a team effort since Cord and I were learning together. We built one garden together and then another.
As the years went by and the boys came it became obvious that we each had our specialties. For instance, I do most of the seeding and transplanting of all of our vegetable starts. Cord started a second bio-intensive garden after we built mine in the trees, and has been developing it for many years. He specializes in building whatever we need to grow, from wooden flats to greenhouses.
By Keith Funk
Q: Should I remove all fallen leaves from my garden beds?
A: Rake leaves from lawns to prevent snow mold, but a thin layer in garden beds can provide insulation and offer protection to overwintering wildlife. I like to run my lawn mower over any leaves to chop them up before I scatter them on my perennials and other garden beds.
Star cactus, Astrophytum myriostigma
Q: Over the last few years, I’ve collected a number of cacti and succulents. When I look them up online, it shows that they have gorgeous flowers. Mine never bloom. I have them in various windowsills and on tables near the window. Do they have to be older to flower? Do they need a certain kind of fertilizer?
A: I’m amazed how popular cacti and succulents have become. The species I see are easy for the production nursery to grow (Echevaria, Sedum, Mammillaria, Crassula, etc.) but are not necessarily the best for windowsill culture. These also are not known for their beautiful flowers.
Now most of the cacti that we grow indoors come from Central America. They may be from desert or mountainous areas but most species live in regions that are hot during the day and quite chilly at night. This temperature fluctuation is often necessary for stimulating cacti to produce flowers. Think about it; most homes stay at a similar temperature day and night. To stimulate flowers, look for a cooler room (like a guest bedroom) to keep the plants in (at least during the winter months). Shut off the heat register and give them as much light as possible. Temperatures between 45°F and 55°F will stimulate flowers in most species. If you don’t have such a room, there’s an alternative plan. Move your cacti and succulents outdoors in early June and leave them outside until light frosts begin in September or October. The natural temperatures in our region can fluctuate 20-30°F from day to night. This will certainly help with the flowering process.
Very little fertilizer is needed for cacti but it can be helpful in their overall health. Find a fertilizer that is particularly designed for cacti. These often contain calcium nitrate. Or use fertilizers from the sea such as kelp or fish emulsion with more natural calcium. Apply fertilizers only while the plants are in their active growth phase which is usually from March through September. Less is more. In general, let cacti and succulents dry thoroughly between waterings. Also, water much less while they are cool in the winter months.
Kelly Grummons
Gardening Events
Check our Colorado Gardener Calendar for our list of eventsincluding seed swaps, plant swaps, gardening classes, webinars, garden tours, plant sales, and conventions.
Next week:
Colorado Pollinator Summit Nov 13-14 in Boulder
Front Range Wild Ones Seed Swap Nov 8 in CO Springs
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